|
Daschner
/ Behsman Claim Season Opener at Lac qui Parle
The 2004 MWT season got
off to a soggy start as the full tournament field of 75 teams eased off
into the misty morning from the Volden’s Pit Access.
Most teams probably hadn’t even gotten to their fishing spots
before the mist turned into a steady rain.
And rain it did. Over
2.5 inches of rain fell during the tournament testing the mental
toughness of some teams as well as angling ability.
The walleyes didn’t seem to mind though as the bite continued
throughout the day with most teams reporting plenty of action.
The toughest part was trying to locate legal sized fish.
While most anglers were either anchoring near or slowly moving
around the numerous rock piles and casting crankbaits or jig and minnow
combinations into the shallow rocks, other teams had elected to pull
crankbaits and strain more water looking for the larger walleyes.
There seemed to be no shortage of the 12’-14’ cigars, but it
was the “slot fish”, those in the 15”-24” class that proved hard
to find. Larger sized fish
came to the scales in impressive numbers compared to the total number of
walleyes weighed. Apparently
the 5 lb plus walleyes wanted big live bait as several of these premium
fish coughed up large bait fish once placed into the weigh basket at the
scale.
The team of Mark Daschner and Troy Behsman, from Armstrong, IA
and Cleveland, MN, had a different idea of how to catch bigger walleyes
though. Daschner and
Behsman found their wall-eyes by trolling #5 shad colored Shad Raps
45’ behind the boat through the murky water, concentrating their
efforts on mud to gravel or mud to rock transition zones in the upper
half of the lake. The pair
kept their rods tips held high to avoid getting snagged up in rocks
thereby reducing their down time.
The pair came to the scale, one fish short of a tournament limit,
with 5 walleyes weighing 14.56 lbs..
Included in their basket was a 7.18 lber.
They took home the $2,500.00 first place check and trophies by
just over 2 pounds.
Landing in 2nd place were Bryan Winterfeldt of
Dassel and partner Don Neubarth of Hutchinson with 3 walleyes tipping
the scale at 12.54 lbs., one of which was a 7.78 lb beauty.
Their catch earned them a $1,500.00 check.
Winterfeldt and Neubarth caught their walleyes by throwing #7
firetiger Thundersticks into 1-2 feet of water early in the day.
They concentrated their efforts on the windward side of the lake.
The pair located good areas during the pre-fishing period by
pulling chartreuse Thundersticks behind boards over 3-4’ of water.
They found that crankbaits seemed to produce larger fish than
live bait presentations.
Netting 3rd place and a $1,250.00 check were Pat and
Jim Gibbons from Lino Lakes and St. Paul, respectively.
Team Gibbons had the only 6 fish tournament limit which weighed
in at 11.72 lbs..
Largest fish honors went to Mark Willand of Dawson and Danny Lee
of Madison with a new MWT
record 7.90 lb. walleye. Besides
finishing in 6th place worth $800.00 they were also rewarded
with $500.00 cash and a pair of Beckman landing nets.
Second largest fish of the tournament and $230.00 cash went to a
7.78 lber caught by Bryan Winterfeldt of Dassel and Don Neubarth of
Hutchinson. |
